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User blog:ISAAC Organization/The Death of Vladimir Komarov
The Death of Vladimir Komarov Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer and cosmonaut. He was a highly decorated figure in their space program and was well known to the Soviet people. Little was known about him outside of the Soviet Union for many years. In October 1964, he flew his first spaceflight when he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member aboard. In 1967, he would become the first cosmonaut to fly twice in space, when he was selected to be the solo pilot of the Soviet's newly developed spacecraft: Soyuz 1. The cosmonauts involved in the testing of the new Soyuz spacecraft realized that it had several design flaws and numerous safety problems. For example, the hatch of the space capsule was too small for a fully-suited cosmonaut to exit. Their requests, suggestions and complaints were ignored by space program supervisors. Since the Soyuz had never flown in space before, Komarov would have to fly in it alone and test all of the Soyuz's equipment and operational systems. Komarov's good friend, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was selected to be the backup cosmonaut for the Soyuz 1 flight, should he be unable to complete the mission. Yuri Gagarin was already a huge national hero in the Soviet Union and known world-wide for being the first human to travel successfully into space. Initially Komarov refused to fly the mission but he knew that if he didn't, Gagarin would be forced to go instead. He also knew that the new Soyuz spacecraft would likely fail due to its poor design, and that Gagarin would surely be killed. Not wanting his friend to die, combined with not wanting the nation to lose its greatest hero, Komarov changed his mind and took the mission. So certain of his doom in piloting the poorly constructed spacecraft, he instructed government officials to hold his forth-coming funeral with an open-casket. This did not sit well with his superiors. They did not like their cosmonauts publicly talking about how they were going to die in their spacecraft. But Komarov was determined, he wanted the Soviet leadership to see what they were doing by ignoring the cosmonauts complaints about the Soyuz spacecraft. Komarov's rocket launched successfully, but problems began shortly thereafter. One of the Soyuz's solar panels failed to unfold shortly after reaching orbit, causing a crippling power shortage aboard the spacecraft. Further problems arose, the orientation detectors failed, complicating the maneuvering the craft. By the thirteenth orbit, the automated stabilization systems had totally failed and the manual navigation system was only partially functioning. Several other systems worked poorly, and some failed to work at all. Komarov had to work constantly to overcome the mechanical problems that plagued his Soyuz capsule, yet he managed to successfully re-enter the Earth's atmosphere on his nineteenth orbit. A new malfunction occured. The capsule's drogue chute and main braking parachute failed to deploy correctly. So incensed in knowing of his impending death, Komarov took to the spacecraft's radio and began to broadcast a hail of curses against all those who he felt been responsible for the capsule's design flaws. He continued his broadcast of anger the entire time his capsule fell from of the sky. Possibly unbeknownst to him, his radio transmissions where picked up by non-Soviet military radio stations and the world immediately learned of his fate. Sadly, Komarov's Soyuz capsule crashed into the ground at over 600 miles per hour, killing him instantly. So badly mangled was his body, that the only body part that could be visibly identified was his heel bone, the most durable bone in the human body. Much to government officials' chagrin, Komarov's funeral was held exactly as he requested, with an open casket. It would be many years before the exact details of his spaceflight came to light publicly. He became the first human to die during a space flight. And sadly, he would not be the last.